The previous four “extreme beer series” were all dark in color, and we wanted to try the opposite with this holiday brew. Our goal: the lightest color, the highest ABV, and only the four noble hops used in it! Of all our entries, this baby needed some aging to calm down the 14.1% ABV! After the hand cork is popped, faint grassy aromas fill the nose from the late Saaz hop additions. Let this bottle breathe after you open it, if you can find one!!!

Reviews by xgrigorix:

Plently of malty cereal goodness, along with a lot of caramel flavours. The sweetness that was present when this was released has gone away. The hops have died down as well (as to be expected). Some fruitiness, comes in - plums in particular come to mind.

Medium/full bodied, absolutlely no carbonation.

While I didn't have high hope for this (having had a fresh bottle when it was released almost 2 years ago) I am actually impressed with the way this has aged. Don't think of it as an imperial pilsner, consider it as a helles doppelbock, and you might think of it completely differently.

Well, I saw the rotten reviews on this but I had to pick it up anyhow....I love imperial pilsners (so far) and I gotta have my hops..I figure I will love this one....so here goes..

Pours out pretty darn flat. the only carbonation here is a few rogue bubbles and a "haze" as opposed to a head. Looks like a premature homebrew really. Very cloudy amber, with a few bubbles suspended near the top of the brew.There is a rather skunky hop profile , and not much else except alcohol. The taste of this brew is not too good. There is way too much alcohol for the amount of taste surviving in this brew. Some bready malts up front, followed by a burning alcohol sensation with some citrous hop flavors thrown in. Thin mouthfeel for the style - I was expecting more stickyness...Drinkability straight sucks. This reminds me of DFH immort ale, only with a nastier alcohol kick. T-bird of craft beers here, and normally I love IPA's and super hoppy double IPA's/pilsners. No amount of aging will help this brew IMO. SWING AND A MISS!!!! Note to Newport Storm ... Go check out Dominion - they know this style.I imagine there was a good debate at the brewery as to whether to bottle this or chuck it, because it does not meet quality standards of any respectable brewery.

Thanks to jdiddy for the corked bottle. Opened at the 3rd Annual BA Stone Soup Gathering at the General Lafayette.

A: The beer has taken on a darker brown hue, long removed from the gentle colors of a pilsner. Not much head but there is plenty of carbonation.

S: The nose is interesting. Some oxidation has occurred but it doesn't detract from the profile. Sweet malts are the most noticeable aspect, easily overwhelming whatever is left of 2004 hop profile. You'd swear that this was a barleywine-style lager.

T: Again, I swore that I grabbed my '02 barleywine. The flavor is pleasantly rich, loaded with tastes that I'd never expect from a pilsner (double or otherwise). Raisins and figs peek through, a result of the aging process I assume. Not much tells me that this was a pils and the hops are completely nonexistent. Several people were pleasantly surprised with the depth that the beer took on, myself included.

M: The taste is quite surprising, a pils that has stood the test of time and evolved as needed. I swore it was a barleywine and needed several reads of the back of the bottle to believe otherwise.

D: The 14% booze is well-hidden. An interesting beer that aged far better than I could have expected.

This came from the bottle a hazy copper color with no head (as much as I tried. I must say, Im a little worried), No head means no lace. The aroma has a nice toffee character from the malt in addition to the doughy/yeasty character that is often evident with Coastal Extremes beer. I detected much the same in the 03 Barley Wine. Decent fruit aroma delivered too. I assume from the hops. It has more than just citrus, pear and apple comes through. Bright fruit forward flavors. The apple and pear really come through. I would not have pegged this as a pilsner. More in the way of a pale ale. The alcohol comes through quickly on this beer. Its not harsh, but it makes its presence known. Slick mouth feel, decent drinkability. Im still trying to decide if this beer is supposed to be in this shape. Ill come back to this review should I get an update.

Samichlaus-like fuelic alcohol vapors nose, salty and sweet. The pour is of a hazy yellow color with particularly low carbonation failing to produce a head. Grassy noble hops aroma manage to pierce through the sweetness wall, pairing with the shy thick malt to procure a dusty feel, like old apples and woody pencil shavings. On the tongue, it starts somehow nicely with cookie maltiness that too swiftly develops into a juicy chaos. An alien medley of tooo subdued hops, completely overshadowed by malt syrup. Oxidation traces after just a few months already haunt the aging potential. Dull lifeless flat body, syrupy honeyish and cloying. What purpose does it serve then? This annoys me since Ive tasted their barleywines in all their glory and theyre among the best. its sharply boasting of ethanol retronasal

Pours a murky, honey-like orange. No real head, just some white scim and bubble ring around the edges. Looks thick. Hooray for blue bottles with painted labels.

At first 04 smells like sparkling cider than it's all sweet caramel malt, dark fruits, and booze.

Tastes like a caramel kick in the ass. Dark fruits such as plum and apricot become more evident as it warms. Syrupy. Lingers like hard alcohol with a plum cough medicine aftertaste. Absolutely no carbonation. Not really "alcohol warmth," so much as "caramel alcohol on fire." I went into this one intending to sip on it like cognac and was not dissapointed.

A: The beer is a light coppery brown color, with a very thin off-white head, that fades very quickly and leaves almost no lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains brown sugar, alcohol, caramelized malts and a touch of fruit. Given the age of the beer, it’s not a surprise that the hops are not detectable.

T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of dark fruit, caramel, bourbon and brown sugar that are quickly followed by a strong alcohol burn. The malt character is very thin and the hops presence is completely gone which prevent any kind of balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.

M: Not very crisp or smooth and is somewhat watery, medium body, light carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Not very tasty, does not go down very easily, not too filling, very strong kick, it wasn’t a very good beer to begin with and age hasn’t done it any favors.

Poured roughly into an imperial pint glass, formed a slight unevenly bubbled head over the totally cloudy orangey amber brew. Head, what there was, is quickly gone swirly, and no lacing to speak of. Dark fruit aroma, with malty sweetness. Nothing so far indicates this is a double pilsner at all, way dark, no hoppy aroma. Taste is lightly fruity with excessive malt sweetness, and then alcohol comes in and takes over, lots of burn. Mouthfeel and drinkability are junk at this point. Not sure if it was ever worth the trouble. Kind of sad the brewery has released some of this recently, could turn people off Newport Storm paying this much cash for yuck.

Well it is the new year. And I figured I would break out one of these from my pants drawer (yes I age my beer in my pants drawer). I still have two bottles aging so they will be posted at a later date.

S: As with all XX' beers the beautiful corked cobalt blue bottle.
A: Resembles unfiltered Apple Cider with a little more orange color. No head at all, no carbonation when removing the cork or during the pour. S: For looking out of date and flat the smell is quite good, very fruity with apricots and spices. The alcohol makes it presense known towards the end. T: WOW is this beer? I purchased this beer in RI 25 months ago and it aged very well, it is not on its way out. I have two more stored away and I might make another review in another 25 months. This is not a sipping beer, the alcohol will rip you apart, but not a quick drinker either. The citrus, malty finish lingers a little too long but cleans up the initial alcohol surge nicely.
M: Can not really keep this in one's mouth to savor the taste for too long. The alcohol burn keeps this from happening, as for the finish read above, strange brew.
D: No very drinkable, my wife - who endears a lot with me - did not like this at all, she drank her share but really had nothing good to say about it.

Final report. I think for the $9.99 cost (in RI) it is worth while to age, it seems to mature. If you can find one in a store or have aged a bottle, give it another year it could be rewarding.

Well I havent heard anything great about this bottle, but I have sat on it long enough. I split a chilled bottle with Stopper the other nite. I am pouring into a snifter.
The beer exudes a chestnuty apple cider color with no head at all. The beer is slightly cloudy/hazy.
The aroma is slightly apple cidery as well with lots of boozey alcohol as well. I do detect some faint spicy hops but they are overshadowed easily by the alcohol which is dominant.
First sip reveals a thin slightly watery body with fine and almost non-existent carbonation. The flavor is briefly sweet caramel and then goes peppery alcohol that carries through to the finish. Stopper nailed it with, "it lingers like a shot of vodka!" The beer is hot and bitey and not overly enjoyable. But if you just want to get a good buzz you will get there with this beer, but for $15 you can definitely do it with something that tastes better!

Pours a nice cloudy amber/copper color, some carbonation, very tiny fizzy off-white head, with basically no sticky lacing left behind. The nose is malty, some hop notes, licorice, very slight citrus. The taste is sweet, malty, a slight hop note, licorice. Medium body, ABV is still present, but not bad at all. Drinkable, this taste's basically nothing like a Imperial Pils, but like a Barleywine/American Strong Ale. Definitely not as hot as other fresh IPs I've had. I really like the taste of this one. Thanks Wayne for the chance to try this one out.

OK coach, I'm gonna step up and take one for the team...I have admittedly been eagerly awaiting this, the 5th offering of their extreme seasonal.

Deep copper pour under almost no head...a few big bubbles that edged to the perimeter. Odd, when I opened it there was a quick and fading aroma of saaz hops, but as it sits I'm picking up only the slightest hint of a grainy cereal quality. Jeeze, big alcohol taste dominates...I can feel the warmth all the way down the gullet. A very mild sweetness peaks through and an even fainter hop bite finishes, but the finish takes it's sweet time showing up due to the alcohol dominated flavor that hits hard at the beginning and never lets up...that last sip made my head crawl. Damn, I do not see myself finishing this 750 ml...this seems to me to be an underachiever for such an extreme lineage. '00, '01, '02, and '03 primed me for an extreme treat, and what I find in stead is a colossal letdown.

Update, February 16 2009: Still just fuckin' awful. Time was not kind to this mess. Hops have faded. Otherwise, this big boozy mess is just wrong. Thanks to richdude for the aged sample. Cellaring expectations were very low, but now I need not wonder what might be.

I don't think this is a Double Pilsner, BTW. I have submitted a change to list this as an Am. Strong Ale.

A- A gold/ruby color, shimmers in the light. Very vibrant pour. A twinge of amber. Large thin-walled bubbles crowd the surface and settle to the outer edges.

S- Pale malt sweetness and some mild spiciness. Left over from the hops? Hmm.

T- Sweet malts, caramel is most evident. Light fruity notes- sugary sweet candied orange comes to mind. Some honey as well. A bit of pepper in the finish- but it's very faint. Wow. This one is a delight. So smooth- no sign of the ABV! I would have guessed 9%. No oxidation or off-notes... flavors have held up well.

M- I am floored at how drinkable this is. I know this beer was harsh fresh, but it's mellowed into an amazingly complex and nuanced beverage. No sign of the ABV.

D- High. By far the best of the series. Time was kind to this one. Rarely does a beer make this big of an impression on me. Spectacular stuff.